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3 Dentals In 2 Years


Guest andrealynch

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Guest andrealynch

Hello Everyone! rolleyes.gif

 

I've owned my Grey now for 2 years--and in that time, he has had 3 full dental procedures--with anesthesia, cleaning, and teeth pulling each time. He is 10 years old, and raced for 3 years and then was in a captive blood donor program for 4 years. Because of this, I am pretty sure he did not get the best of dental care in the past.

 

For the past week, I've started to notice that his breath is smelly (especially when he wakes up), and when I look at his teeth, I see that two of them (I believe one is a carinassial tooth) are brown at the top near the gums. I have called my vet and she has scheduled me for another dental on Tuesday--the last one we had was back in December! As far as eating goes, he doesn't seem to be attacking his hard kibble as much, so I have moved him over to a soft diet.

 

My question is: does this seem odd to be having so many dentals? Perhaps I am just making up for his past of inferior dental care? Any suggestions? I hate putting him under anesthesia at his age--it worries me so, but at the same time, I don't want him to suffer with a hurt mouth. eek.gif

 

Thank you in advance for your help and suggestions!

 

 

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Hard to say, I don't necessarily do them as soon as the bad breath appears, but I do have them done once a year, although if my vet thought sooner I'd listen.

 

As for age, as my vet says, it's not a disease, and there are lots of things you can do to make anesthesia safer, starting with running a through blood panel beforehand if you don't already. My dog does best with IV support before, during, and a little after surgery--always has, but I think that's recommended particularly for seniors. If you post your vet's anesthesia protocal here, I'm sure you'll get lots of feedback.

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My ten year old could have dentals every 6-8 months - it's just the way he is. My other three can go more than a year in between full dentals. They all eat the same, get the same chews, etc., so it must be an individual thing.

 

Do you do any dental care at home like brushing? Does he get anything to help remove the tartar - dental chews, hard kibble, dental toys? Both these can help increase the time in between. You can talk to your vet about the new dental vaccine too (do a search here for threads about it).

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Guest wjamg

I am taking my girl Peace in tomorrow for her dental just ten months after her last and she really needs it. I brush, give her CET chews and use petzlife gel..she just has horrid teeth. I am just hoping none are pulled tomorrow. She just turned eight and it worries me so much to put her under, but I would worry if she were two..she is my baby.

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I take Kerri for a dental about every 8 to 9 months. This past Friday she had one and had 4 teeth removed, the dental before she had 2 teeth removed and right before I adopted her she had 22 teeth removed. Only one dental did I take her for, that she didn't have any teeth pulled. Poor Girl just seems to have a very bad mouth sad.gif

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We have our greys teeth checked by the vet when they go in for annual exams. We get dentals when the vet thinks they're necessary. Celeste hasn't needed one yet in the 4 years we've had her. We've had Darcy 3.5 years. She just had her first dental last month - no extractions. We've had Bonny 2.5 years. Her first dental was last month too -2 extractions. I'm glad they don't need them more often. The two dentals in March cost us around $1,300. :eek

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Guest sweetpea

We have our greys teeth checked by the vet when they go in for annual exams. We get dentals when the vet thinks they're necessary. Celeste hasn't needed one yet in the 4 years we've had her. We've had Darcy 3.5 years. She just had her first dental last month - no extractions. We've had Bonny 2.5 years. Her first dental was last month too -2 extractions. I'm glad they don't need them more often. The two dentals in March cost us around $1,300. :eek

 

 

Phew, thank goodness, I thought something was wrong with my 'Pea, or with my care of my 'Pea.

 

No dentals since she's lived here, which will be 3 years in two days!

 

Vets always say, teeth look great, whatever you're doing, keep it up!

 

Buzzy

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Guest AmandaTolleson

Raw diet works WONDERS for this... Lucy was already developing some horrible teeth when I adopted her and after a year on a prey model raw diet they reversed to a darn near sparkly white... :blink: No dental required. But you have to commit to the "lifestyle" of feeding raw daily and it's not for everyone.

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Greyhounds tend to have notoriously bad teeth.

 

Tiny's aren't all that bad, but Raven's are awful. She's very cagey about having her teeth brushed, but I've discovered that giving her a chewie of some sort every night (usually alternating between CET chews and pig ears/bully sticks) works wonders. Though I'm not crazy about rawhide products, those CET chews are marvelous for cleaning teeth... and I don't have to hog-tie her to get her to "brush."

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Guest FullMetalFrank

I have been fortunate with mine. No dentals for Frank in the 8 years he has been with me, and so far no problems with Chelsa, either, She does have one tooth that we "watch", it is one of the little molars that was fractured long before I got her, I was going to get it pulled but my vet says it is solid and not getting any worse.

 

We do feed raw (partially anyways; they do get a small amout of kibble, too) and I brush their teeth and use various products (PetzLife oral care spray, most recently.) I have also scaled minor bits of tartar if it gets built up.

 

The vet who taught the dental portion of my vet tech program told me that it takes approximately 48 hours for plaque to beging to harden into calculus (plaque) and the key is not to let that happen. Start with clean teeth, if you can, or do like I did and work at them to get them clean, and maintain by brushing a minimum of every other day. I'll admit I am not perfect with this regimen, and we do rely on some of the raw food to help clean the teeth; but both of my dogs, 10 and 8 years old, have all of their teeth and pretty decent mouths. I have always been really leary of putting them under just for a dental, although I do know that sometimes it's just unavoidable for the hounds with really bad teeth.

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Guest Fasave

My 10 year old hasn't had a dental for 7 years. The last one was after he was put up for adoption. I brush every night but I think I'm lucky. I do think sometimes you are just fighting genetics. Does your vet take x-rays as part of the procedure? My 4 year old newbie had a dental with a dentist after falling and taking a face plant on flagstone resulting in a broken front canine. He was clearly a crate chewer and all his teeth are severely worn so I was really worried about his teeth long-term. With x-rays the dentist was able to tell that all but one of his molars (which he removed) were healthy which was a huge relief. One of my pups lost 18 teeth on his first dental within the first year he was with me. I wish now I'd taken him to a dentist because my regular vet said there were more questionable teeth but he didn't feel comfortable removing some of the more difficult ones. This poor boy had a ton of health issues and I wonder if it would have been different if we had been more aggressive with the dental. You can't always tell what's going on from looking at the teeth as much of the problem is below the gums and inside the teeth. Best of luck with the dental. Sending good thoughts from here!

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Greyhounds are famous for bad teeth; I believe the general thought is genetics, not poor dental care. Much like Siamese cats are famous for poor teeth.

 

My dog was at the track for three years; he was five when I got him, he had his teeth cleaned then, did not do well with anesthesia, and hasn't had them done again (three years). His teeth are great, but I'm just lucky.


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Guest KennelMom

Some greyhounds have really bad teeth. Others don't seem to. Of our 19 dogs, many have never needed a dental, a few have despite all of them eating the same food and getting the same treats. I lean to the genetics side of things, not dental care or lack thereof necessarily. Preventative care and the type of food eaten can certainly influence (exacerbate or mitigate) a dog's genetic predispositions though...I think 3 dentals in 2 years is a LOT. We go several years between dentals, even with our "worst teeth" dogs.

 

eta: there are also some vets that just looooooooove to do dentals (and some seem to love to pull teeth too). So, you may have a 'dental happy' vet as well...just something to keep in mind.

 

I would start giving a variety of types of raw bones to see if you can let nature work it's magic and keep his teeth clean.

Edited by KennelMom
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Guest greytkidsmom

You are not alone. My oldest boy needs a dental every 6-8 months. That is with chlorhexidine drinking water additive, regular brushing, and the dental vaccine. His most recent dental was about 2 weeks ago and was the first one that he didn't have an extraction. We are going to try pulsed antibiotic therapy this time to see if that makes any difference. I don't like the idea of him having anesthesia so frequently especially since he isn't getting any younger but we always check bloodwork first and the risk of anesthesia is better than the renal or heart disease he could get from chronic dental disease.

 

If your boy isn't eating as well, it probably is worth getting the dental again. Mine did the same thing. Turned out that all of his front teeth were loose. Once they were out, he eats like he never saw food before.

 

Good luck to you.

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Guest abbysmom

As I read this thread, I'm wondering if oravet might help. A vet recommended it to me because of greyhounds' notioriously bad teeth. It's waxy and a bit challenging to apply (and a bit pricey), but I've been using it (once a week) with my current greys. I started both when I adoped them (and both had just had dentals). In the two years that I've had Emmy she hasn't had to have a dental, and I don't see plaque build up. (I brush their teeth, but only about once a week--and I know that I should brush more frequently.) Both my girls tolerate it fine, as did my senior girl who went to the bridge almost a year ago. Does anyone else have experience with it?

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i agree w/ kennel mom. use a used worn out tooth brush and hydrogen peroxide and water combo, brush and then take a paper towel and wipe. i use my thumb nail to easily chip off tarter, wipe again w/ peroxide and water. the worst teeth any of my dogs had was due to long use of predisone and forineff, my scottie had addison's disease. but generally i just brush, wipe and look for tarter. generally a big chunk will fall right off and then the rest follows if there is tarter.

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